14 November 2012

Focus: Europe

(Update: See the comments section for a note contributed by Alessandro Fiorini at Asilo in Europa regarding new instructions from the Italian Ministry of the Interior for dealing with North African migrants.)

Publications:

Common European Asylum System: An Answer to Asylum Burdens in the EU? (International Studies Society – Belgrade, Oct. 2012) [text]

Judicial Implementation of Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in Europe: The Case of Migrant Children Including Unaccompanied Children (Unicef & OHCHR, June 2012) [text]

The Key Tenets and Implications of the Proposed Amendments to the Dublin Regulation and the Reception Conditions Directive, Interview with Cecilia Wikström, Member of the European Parliament and Rapporteur on the Recast of the Dublin Regulation (Eurasylum, Nov. 2012) [text]

"The Limits of EU Hospitality," The Refuge, vol. 10, no. 3 (Oct. 2012) [text]

"From Urban to Rural: Livelihoods and Adaptation of Armenian Refugees," Chapter in Observing Transformation: Adaptation Strategies in the South Caucasus (Henrich Boell Foundation, 2011) [text]
- Scroll to p. 14.

Multimedia:

The Left to Die Boat (BBC, Oct. 2012) [access]
- Documentary on how African migrants "were left to die in a boat in one of the most heavily-monitored seas on earth."

Tagged Publications and Web Sites/Tools.


1 comment:

FM Librarian said...

Alessandro Fiorini at Asilo en Europa (http://asiloineuropa.blogspot.com) sent me the following note. You can request a copy of the "operative instructions" referenced below from him directly at asiloineuropa[at]gmail[dot]com:

"I am writing to you to flag some important news regarding the people who came to Italy in 2011 during the Libyan war. Hope it will be interesting for you.

As you probably know, those migrants (mainly non-Libyans but also Sub-Saharans, Pakistanis...) were all "forced" by the Italian government to apply for asylum. Indeed, the then government did not want to issue them with a residence permit on humanitarian grounds (as it did for the Tunisians who arrived just a few weeks before).

At the same time, considering them as 'illegal immigrants' would have been impossible.

That's why the 'asylum route' was chosen (by the government!).

However, after more than 12 months, most of the cases are still pending either at 1st (!) or at 2nd instance. Most of the claims examined at 1st instance were rejected.

Thus, in order to get through the backlog (and to avoid the cost of thousands of appeals), the Ministry of the Interior recently issued some 'operative instructions'.

The mechanism is quite intricate but the result will be the one advocated by many NGOs since the beginning of the Arab spring: A "humanitarian" permit to stay in Italy will be issued to both those who are still awaiting the 1st instance decision by the competent territorial Commission (the administrative body responsible for examining the asylum claims at 1st instance in Italy) and those who have already received a negative answer at 1st instance.

In the latter case, however, the migrants must ask that their claim be 'reviewed' (without a personal interview) by the competent territorial Commission.

According to the new instructions given by the Ministry of the Interior, the territorial Commissions must now take into account, both when evaluating a claim for the first time and when re-viewing their first decisions, the fact that the migrants spent many years in Libya before the war and that they have lost the ties with their home countries.

Please consider that the Italian government has recently decided that the measures of support for those people who came from Libya will cease as of the 1st January 2013.

The developments described above could thus have been influenced also by the consideration that Italy has clear obligations under EU law for the reception of asylum seekers, whereas there is no obligation to support the integration of protected people."